Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
es kia mphahlelelatest news & developments
New page: Damon Galgut’s novel ‘The Promise’, which won the Booker Prize in 2021, has been brought to life on stage by Sylvaine Strike. Photo: Claude Barnardo

Novel role for literature on stage

Compelling, popular theatre adaptations distil the very essence of written stories for audiences

South Africa has made strides in ensuring access to primary school education for children despite their socio-economic status or geographic location, according to a global study. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Thuli Dlamini)

Why art and creativity is a crucial part of (in)formal education

Arts education is critical, because it has the capacity to liberate learners from economic, social and political forces. What’s needed is funding, training and political will

Anele Nene (front) and Josias Dos Moleele play Bloke Modisane and Langston Hughes in the Siphiwo Mahala play Bloke & His American Bantu. (Oupa Nkosi)

Men of letters: Mahala and Maake-ka Ncube team up again to stage ‘Bloke & His American Bantu’

Langston Hughes and Bloke Modisane took the art of letter writing seriously, but what else did their relationship entail?

Freestyle pantsula dancers in Soweto, Johannesburg, 2016. (Photo: Chris Saunders)

Why place matters in celebrating Jo’burg’s club history

The history of clubbing in Jo’burg is less about physical space and fading memories, but about the sheer, frightful necessity of dancing

Bhekizizwe Peterson pictured with National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)  awards judge Professor Hlonipha Mokoena in 2018, after a book he co-edited won a prize. (Image courtesy of NIHSS)

Great heart of African literature: Bheki Peterson’s expansive vision of the world

Having conducted the bulk of his study during apartheid, which informed his scholarship, Peterson left us with provocations for the future

The many guises of Rami Chuene

Author, actress, philanthropist, singer and translator Rami Chuene fits a lot into her life

Stephen Gray edited a series of South African works for Penguin, bringing back into print several almost forgotten classics. (Paul Botes)

Obituary: Literary allrounder Stephen Gray was a scholar, critic, novelist and poet

Stephen Gray made an immense, long contribution to the South African literary landscape across many genres, but it was poetry that he described as ‘the main activity of my life’

Black Thoughts: Writer and activist Achmat Dangor never shied from his personal odyssey of exploring uncertain terrain. (Paul Botes)

Achmat Dangor: On writing and change

Celebrated author and political activist Achmat Dangor died on Sunday at the age of 71. Here, in a 1990 interview published in Staffrider, he speaks to Andries Walter Oliphant…